The approach to St Mellons Church - geograph

St Mellons () is a district and

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of eastern

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Prior to 1996 St Mellons was the name given to the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

largely north of Newport Road (B4487) which included the old St Mellons village. After 1996 the old community was divided and renamed as Old St Mellons and Pontprennau, with the newer, much larger area of modern housing and

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

s to the south of Newport Road retaining the St Mellons name. Historically in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, St Mellons became part of

South Glamorgan South Glamorgan () is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales. It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area. It consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the south ...

and Cardiff in 1974.

History

St Mellons village began as a small commercial centre in the historic county of

, relying heavily on

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and travel. Owners of coach houses or

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

s would cater for travellers using Newport Road, the old

Roman Road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

between

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. St Mellons became a community (the lowest tier of local government) and part of the city of

district of

under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

on 1 April 1974. The St Mellons community was divided and renamed in 1996: Old St Mellons was created from the eastern part (largely the Old St Mellons ward). The remaining part of the St Mellons community became Pontprennau. When people refer to St Mellons today, they are often not talking about the historic St Mellons, but the considerably larger and more modern housing estate which has been built to the south and east. The newer estate has retained the name 'St Mellons'. Many buildings in Old St Mellons date back to the 19th century while the vast majority of buildings in St Mellons were built in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Vaendre Hall off Vaendre Close was built in 1850 for the industrialist John Cory, it sits on a 4 acre estate, having been sold with 18 acres in 1893. It is bordered by St Mellons golf course.

Origins of the name

The English name St Mellons is believed to be derived from the 6th-century Saint Melaine who became Bishop of Rennes in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, rather than the more legendary 4th-century Mellonius, Bishop of Rouen. One of these bishops is known to have been born and brought up in the area where the estate now exists, though stories of the two have become hopelessly confused in many biographies over the years leaving historians unsure as to which is which. The Welsh translation of St Mellons is ''Llaneirwg'' which is made up of ''Llan'', a Welsh word meaning 'enclosure', and the personal-name Eirwg or Eurwg. Wales was originally evangelised by Celtic monks whose practice was to move into an area, and erect small premises within a fenced area - 'the enclosure'. From here they continued their work and subsequently a church would be erected on the site. The extent of the missionary activity in Wales is shown by the number of place names beginning with 'Llan' which is generally followed by the name of the missionary monk who founded the church in that place. In the case of LLaneirwg, Eurwg is the name of a mythical King of Gwent. Eurwg is said to have lived on the hill at St Mellons during the

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

era, he and his people were converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

baptised Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

in the nearby

Rhymney River The Rhymney River () is a river in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn Estuary. The river formed the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire until in 1887, the parishes ea ...

. Eurwg's church was erected near the site of the former church of 1360 and the area has since been known as ''Llaneirwg'', literally "Church of Eirwg/Eurwg".BBC , Heol Maes Eirwg
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Governance

The modern St Mellons is included in the

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

community and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

which currently has three seats on Cardiff Council. St Mellons (or Trowbridge) does not have a

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

and the area falls outside the boundaries of Old St Mellons Community Council.

The area

The modern St Mellons is included in the

community and

(Old St Mellons combines with neighbouring Pontprennau to become a Pontprennau & Old St Mellons ward). The 2001 Census put the population of

as 14,801, the 4th most populated ward in Cardiff. Located on the eastern edge of Cardiff, St Mellons is bordered by the unitary authority of Newport.

Facilities

The area is home to two major retail complexes. The largest features a

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

petrol station and superstore, which hit the headlines in January 2010 when it banned customers from shopping in their nightwear and a parade of small retail units including a hairdresser, solicitor, betting shop, dentist, fish & chip takeaway and newsagent. The other complex, located approximately one mile away, has among others, two previously empty supermarket units which once belonged to Hyper Value and

Kwik Save Kwik Save is a British convenience store chain. Prior to 2007, it was also a discount supermarket chain that had shops across the United Kingdom. It went into administration in July 2007, but was brought back in April 2012. Its shops were s ...

until both companies went into liquidation in 2006 and 2007. On this site now sits the What! shop which uses the two previous

and Hyper Value. There are a number of sports and leisure facilities dotted around the district, including floodlit outdoor courts, playing fields and children's play parks (at least two children's play areas had the equipment removed and nature took over)as well as community centres (now demolished), a bowls club (now demolished), job centre and St Mellons Library. There is also ''Hendre Lake Park''; a park and man-made lake popular with local fishermen situated near the mainline railway. The Beacon Centre Toward the south of the estate there is the Beacon Centre which is a community centre created in the early 2000s. The centre runs a large variety of groups and events for the community. The centre is home to th
Beacon Church
an Elim Pentecostal church. Shops and public houses In Old St Mellons there is a

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

petrol station, newsagent and convenience store, fish & chip shop, and hairdresser. The

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

closed in 2009. There are also four public houses situated in close proximity along Newport Road: ''The Church Inn'', The Poachers Arms, ''Ty'r Winch'' and ''The Fox & Hounds'' (widely believed to be one of the oldest pubs in Cardiff). These establishments were able to gain extra business on weekends by exploiting the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881. The act prohibited the sale of alcohol in Welsh establishments on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

, but St Mellons was in the ancient county of Monmouthshire where the act did not take effect until 1921. ;Public houses in Old St Mellons File:The Bluebell Inn, Old St Mellons.jpg, The Church Inn File:The Star Inn, Old St Mellons-geograph-2716263-by-John-Lord.jpg, The Poachers Arms File:Coach House, Old St Mellons.jpg, Ty'r Winch File:Fox & Hounds, Old St Mellons.jpg, The Fox & Hounds

Education

St Mellons has 5 state primary schools: ''Meadowlane Primary'', ''Bishop Childs Church in Wales Primary'', ''Oakfield Primary'', ''Willowbrook Primary'' and ''St. Mellons Church in Wales Primary''. It also has a private school, St John's College, Cardiff, amongst the best performing schools in Wales, based on results. The building and surrounding fields were part of the ''Ty-to-Maen convalescent house'', which only closed in the 1970s. The surrounding land was sold off for housing in the late 1990s following the death of the house's former owner William Nicholls, who now has a street on the estate named after him. There are no learning institutions in this suburb for secondary, tertiary or higher education students (other than for fee-payers at St John's College). Two secondary schools in the Rumney/Llanrumney area nearby, Eastern High School and St Illtyd's Catholic High School (St. Illtyd's also admits non-Catholics), mop up most secondary school pupils, who are expected to travel by bus or car to these establishments from St Mellons (at their own expense). Proposals in former years for a secondary school in the Tesco/Cath Cobb Woods area have been abandoned and strategically forgotten about. Tertiary education is offered nearby at the Cardiff and Vale College, Rumney or St David's Catholic College, Cyncoed (which also admits non-Catholics).

Business park

The St Mellons Business Park is a collection of large scale

s located on low-lying land east of St Mellons considered to be Cardiff's

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

. It has a vast number of factories and office units which have been (or are still) occupied by such companies as

Capita Capita plc is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London. It is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the United Kingdom, with an overall ma ...

, Gilesports, TBI, and

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Established in Birmingham in 1765, Lloyds Bank e ...

. A number of roads in and around the business parks are named after

computer programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

s, namely Pascal,

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily ...

and Fortran.

Conservation area

Old St Mellons has been deemed an area of special

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

or historical interest and lies in a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

which Cardiff County Council first adopted in 1977. The area was reassessed and updated in July 2007 to cover a smaller land area. A number of Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s lie inside the boundary of the conservation area including the ''Church Inn'' and ''Poachers Arms'' public houses, St Johns College, and the two churches.

Coastal defences

Much of the newer estates were built on the Wentloog Levels, areas of low-lying farmland which regularly became flooded until they were reclaimed from the sea during

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times. A system of drainage reens and sluice gates together with a seawall which runs from the

River Usk The River Usk (; ) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it flows north int ...

in the east to the

in the west protect the area from the risk of

coastal flooding Coastal flooding occurs when dry and low-lying land is submerged (flooded) by seawater. The range of a coastal Flood, flooding is a result of the elevation of floodwater that penetrates the inland which is controlled by the topography of the coas ...

as the land is still only a few metres above sea level.

Wildlife

Despite large scale development, a lot of wildlife can still be seen especially to the eastern fringe: foxes,

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

s, grey squirrels, buzzards,

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

s, egrets, moorhens,

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

s, green woodpeckers and many other birds are a common sight.

Hendre Lakes Development

Hendre Lakes Business Park is a large commercial property scheme proposed on land to the east of St Mellons by Cardiff Parkway Developments. Other investors in the project include Investec and the Welsh Government, which has a 10% equity stake. The offices and other proposed facilities would be served by a new Cardiff Parkway train station as well as park and ride facilities. Subject to planning, work on both projects is expected to start with the station and a first phase of 300,000 sq ft of 900,000 sq ft of development at Cardiff Hendre Lakes, completed in 2023.

Transport

Roads

All main roads and side streets in St. Mellons have a 20mph speed limit, with the exception of the A48 and Cypress Drive, where some sections have a 30mph limit. There are no permanent speed cameras anywhere in the estate. In 2007, a number of road-related deaths led to residents campaigning that traffic calming measures be implemented before more lives are lost. In late 2008, Cardiff Council began implementing new traffic calming measures outside the primary schools, including

zebra crossing A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance o ...

s and speed bumps. These measures are now commonplace across St. Mellons. The area is located next to Junction 29a of the A48 (M)/Eastern Avenue Junction, where the

A48 A48 may refer to: * A48 motorway (France), a road connecting the A43 and Grenoble * A48 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Gloucester, England and Carmarthen, Wales * Autovía A-48, a motorway under construction connecting Cadiz and Algecira ...

continues eastbound through Coedkernew and the A48(M) rejoins the M4.

Proposed M4 relief road

Plans are in place to utilise the area's motorway links by creating a new dual carriageway. The St Mellons / Wentloog Link road would become part of the Cardiff Ring Road, crossing the railway line to serve the existing freight terminal and industrial land built on the Wentloog Levels. The plans, however, are not without objection from local residents who fear their health, safety and the value of their homes will be affected. The road is planned to be built in low-lying marsh land, which is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Buses

Cardiff Bus services 30, 44 and 45 serve the area. Services run frequently between the area and

Cardiff City Centre Cardiff city centre () is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations – Cardiff Cen ...

Rail

There is no local railway station, despite Hendre Lake park being adjacent to the Freight Terminal Port, situated along the main line between Cardiff and Newport. The nearest main line station is Cardiff Central. In July 2017, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling gave his backing to a privately financed £25 million station at St Mellons, to be known as Cardiff Parkway. Planning permission was granted in 2022, but the Welsh Government intervened with a review, citing the broader national interest of the project. The project was finally approved in January 2025.

References

External links

A Community website for New St Mellonswww.geograph.co.uk : photos of St Mellons and surrounding area
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mellons Districts of Cardiff History of Monmouthshire Former communities of Wales